Balancing the Spirit
by Hawkeye116
Summary: Seem, exiled to the Wasteland at 12 years old, is found by the Priestess of the Temple. Before she knows it, Seem, the new Priestess, must fix something that has tainted the Temple for ages… and manage to keep the fate of the world in the balance.
1. Part One

A/N: This is only going to be a two- or three-part fic, so don't worry about a delay on _The Rejected_ or _Mary Porter and the Musician's Metronome_, if you enjoy reading those stories. This is a story focusing on Seem. I hope you like it. :)

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A special thanks to Krin for letting this be published. This is no way intended at all to be plagiarized of her original idea, so don't even think that it is. After finishing this chappie you must go and read one of her masterpieces, for this is nothing compared to her writing. Now, on with the story!

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Disclaimer: **-**Sighs- why do I even bother with these anymore? I don't own Seem or the Temple or Spargus or Haven City or Onin or Pecker or the Krimson Guard or Damas or Kleiver or Baron Praxis or anything relating to that. This is in no way intended to be an infringement of any worldwide copyright laws at all, and is done simply to amuse myself when I should be doing my Algebra homework. -Sheepish grin- All stuff relating to Jak belongs to NaughtyDog!

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Key terms to know (All are Spanish) 

_Muchacha_ - Girl  
_Templo de Montaña_ - Mountain Temple (Temple of the Mountain)  
_Siesta_ - Nap  
_Policía_ - Police Officer  
_Esperanza_ – Hope  
_Amor_ - Love  
_Luz_ - Light

* * *

Geheim paced the sandy floor next to the window. Streams of sunlight rained on her and the chamber. Pacing, thinking, stopping to stare out at the window, pacing again… Five steps forward, five steps back, five steps forward… 

"…Geheim?" asked a white-faced monk. The priestess turned to face the tiny man. Ocean-blue eyes sparkled up at her with concern; a chalk white hand placed itself on her shoulder. "The Council wishes to know if you have decided."

She shook her head no; this was much to hard a decision to make for her. The fates were not controlled by only one force, and it was not up to her to choose.

The solemn monk nodded silently, and left the chamber in a cloud of distress.

Geheim turned her old, frail body towards the sunlit window. What an enigma, life was. Hers was coming to an end dangerously soon, and, because of her position as High Priestess, she was given the option of selecting an heir. She looked into the beautiful red sunset, wondering what it would be like to fly with the clouds in the Afterlife.

Again, the Council haunted her memories. Nearly a month ago, it had been.

* * *

_She looked around the wide room, standing in the great semi-circular center of the Temple. There were no windows; only a great skylight in the roof that filtered dull light into the room. Around the circular part of the wall, several elves either of great age or great wisdom sat on small, orange cushions: the Council of the Precursors. She'd only been before the Council once, a long, long time ago that she barely recalled._

_The Council was made of all male members, monks and priests, mostly, but a few spiritually perfected Outsiders as well. These men were of the highest caliber on the planet. They foresaw the future, learned of the past, and determined many things that affected the present. The men never left the Temple and never spoke with women, save for the High Priestess. Few Outsiders had ever had even the slightest notion the Council existed._

_The one seated in the center of the Council stood and spoke. All the other Council members observed emotionlessly._

_"High Priestess Geheim, welcome to the Council Chamber. We have foreseen something very grave concerning you. It should be no surprise that in less than two months, you are going to die. You have served the Temple and the Council superbly, but, clearly, it is your time to leave this world very soon._

_"You have but one decision left before your life expires: do you wish to select your own heir, or have the Council choose?"_

_"... I shall require time for consideration, Grobein," she replied. The one addressing her, Grobein the Almighty, sat again._

_"You are free to go, Priestess."_

_She bowed, and scampered out of the Council Chamber. The place scared her; it was, after all, the spiritual center of the planet. But why the Spirit had only masculine mediums and channelers befuddled her. Women were the celebrated Bringers of Life, and surely they deserved a portion of the Spirit. She and all the other High Priestesses since the beginning of Time were the only females to ever come within the presence of the Spirit; other women weren't even allowed in the Temple.

* * *

_

Geheim's heart jumped in Hope; there was still Hope for the Spirit, still hope for the Council. She would choose her heir. She would choose the one who would realize the Spirit's potential and would set free the Spirit for the world. She would choose well.

* * *

Luz was a short twelve year old with hollow red eyes lacking in emotion and dark, dark hair. Though she was gorgeous in a very strange sort of way, she was considered abnormal, heretical, even. She walked dejectedly with her sad eyes always down at the ground, and was never at peace. 

Esperanza pulled her depressed child along through the Bazaar. Poor Luz, she just had to live as a rejected Water Slummer. Esperanza frowned guiltily as she thought of all the time she left her daughter home alone while she worked one of her three jobs. She tightened her arm around her daughter's shoulder. Luz was the reason Esperanza lived, as her husband had been banished from Haven City when she was still pregnant with Luz.

"_Come, Child, Light of Mine, stay here, and be Free_," Esperanza sang softly. Luz glanced upward for a second into her mother's dim, sorrowful brown orbs that were her eyes. Esperanza saw her husband's, Amor's, eyes in her daughter: a fiery red determination with an unmatched strength. A single, chilled tear dropped down Esperanza's cheek. She resumed singing. "_Child, stay, for here is better than out in the cold; don't escape into the outside world, for here, it is just the two of us_…"

"_Just the two of us, forever intertwined in Love_," finished Luz. It was a lullaby her mother had sung to her since she could remember. It was one of the few things her mother knew; Esperanza was not only illiterate but had had no formal schooling, either.

"Light of Mine, which way is Onin's?" Esperanza whispered, motioning to a sign written in Precursorian.

"To the north and east," read Luz. Esperanza clutched Luz's shoulder again, and steered her along the streets of the Bazaar until they came to a great large canvas tent.

"Grandmother?" Esperanza called softly. The woman insidemoved her hands around, and the air around her gave off blue and green auras.

"Arwwak, Onin says salutations. Do you have any money to pay us for your fortune?" blurted a half-sleeping parrot that looked very much like a monkey. Esperanza whacked the Monkaw over the head.

"Greetings to you too, Pecker," she mumbled. The Monkaw squawked an apology.

"Suppose I'm stuck watching the _muchacha_ again?" mumbled Pecker. Again, Esperanza slapped him.

"Yes, you will look after Luz for me. Luz, Light of Mine, be sure to get back in an hour or so," ordered Esperanza. Pecker grumbled and Luz nodded. Without another thought, Esperanza began 'talking' with her grandmother.

"So, _muchacha_, where are we, ARRWAK, going today?"

Luz rolled her red eyes at the bird hovering next to her and began walking to the Agricultural Sector, where she always went during the times her mother spent time with her great grandmother.

"Arg, not the _Templo de Montaña_ again, _muchacha_!" whined Pecker. He said something about just getting a good _siesta_, but Luz ignored him.

A bit later, Luz walked up the giant ramp and through a tight airlock. She giggled happily as she breathed in fresh air from the area. It was all so tranquil and peaceful. Why couldn't she and her mother live here?

Luz dove through a Warp Gate and landed on the other side safely. She jumped over a platform and down an elevator, carefully avoiding Metal Heads and enjoying the beautiful greenery.

Pecker flapped his wings and perched on one of the upper limbs of great tree near a roaring waterfall and watched as Luz dove in.

"_Muchacha_, you are like a fish!" he exclaimed. Luz splashed him, much to his dismay.

"Pecker, you are like a monkey!" she retaliated. Pecker squawked and joined Luz in the water.

* * *

Luz surfaced and glanced up at the sky; it was turning a vibrant orange. 

"Oh no! Pecker, it's been over three hours!" Luz cried out. The bird, which had been having a nice _siesta_, grumbled and flew behind Luz as she sprinted back to the Warp Gate, and inside Haven City.

Krimson Guards twirled around and bolted after her when they heard her screaming, "Where are you, Esperanza!" in the dying day. Obviously this child was trying to spark some sort of rebellion, screaming, "Where are you, hope?" The Guards chased after the child and pinned her down on the ground. One Guard dressed in yellow marched over to the struggling girl.

"Are your parents working with the Underground, kiddie?" sneered the Krimson Elite. He motioned for the Guards to pick her up.

"Come on, get her to the Palace," the Elite ordered the others. Then, he leered at Luz, "I'm sure the Baron will be quite interested in you."

"Esperanza! Esperanza? Help, Esperanza, help!" yelled Luz. She struggled wildly, crying for her mother.

"Hope can't help you now kid, so I suggest you shut the hell up!" bellowed the Elite. His Guards hauled her into the passenger seat of a HellCat.

"Mother! Esperanza! Pecker! Someone, please help!" called out Luz. The Elite became very frustrated, and knocked her out with the force of his gun.

"Hey, _Policía_! Arrwak, bring back the _muchacha_!" squawked Pecker, who was flying alongside the HellCat. The Elite growled and fired a bullet at the Monkaw. Pecker fell to the ground in pain, and watched as the HellCat zoomed away.

* * *

"For High Treason and Association with Underground Fugitives, you are from this day forth, banished from Haven City forever." 

The Hover Bus pulled away into the sky, and Luz sat down and nearly cried. She tried to keep her strength, but somehow the child had been hollowed to an extreme; even her voice sounded like a soft hiss.

The Wasteland was silent around her as she stood up. Scared, she began to sing as best she could, even though she could only mouth the words. The sand around her had gotten inside her throat, which was unused to the harsh desert dust devils.

"_Come, Child, Light of Mine, stay here and be Free. Stay, Child, for here is better than out in the cold; don't escape to the outside world, for here, it is just the two of us_…"

Luz began to weep.

"_Just the two of us_…"

Luz collapsed on the desert sand and hugged herself into a ball.

"_Forever intertwined in Love_."

"That is such a beautiful melody," whispered a voice. Luz glanced up at the older woman who spoke: her face was pale; she had cold, dying green eyes and was adorned with strange clothes and armor. The woman sat on a large green lizard like Luz had never seen before. "Forgive me; I am Geheim, and I am on my way to Spargus, but you, child, who are you?"

Luz couldn't speak; her throat was so hoarse.

"You seem to be alone and without a name, at least for the moment. I see that you seem to be…" Geheim took a sharp intake of air. This child was much more than met the eye. "Seem I shall call you. Come with me. I can help you," Geheim coughed.

Luz mounted the winged lizard quietly. Once Luz was mounted, Geheim urged the lizard forward.

* * *

Spargus was like something Luz had never seen before; it was so sandy, the air so humid. And the people! The people were tough Wastelanders who were easily angered. Luz stayed close to Geheim, trying to avoid the many stares that surveyed her in a prejudiced manner. The Priestess sensed the child's uneasiness and sent a silent prayer that her nerves would be soothed. 

"Come, Seem, I want you to meet someone," Geheim mumbled quietly. Damas would require that she be brought to him anyway if she was to become the new High Priestess, and Geheim had to speak to him, so it all worked out. _The will of the Spirit_, Geheim pondered.

* * *

"So, you arrive to select a child amongst the common people… I will alert the city very soon, Geheim. But there is something else you wanted to tell me?" said the King in his strong, deep voice. Spikes shot out of his head; he was a burly man with a gentle side that few had ever seen, especially since after the death of his wife. 

"This, your highness," motioned Geheim. "She is called Seem." She urged Luz forward, and Luz felt as though she finally could speak again. Her voice was hoarse and soft, but clear all the same.

"The Guards captured me. I was exiled here. I have a father who was banished eleven years ago; would he be here? His name was Amor." Luz's voice trailed off, and she rubbed her neck.

"Amor? Yes, I remember him well. When we rescued him, he was in a very critical condition… He lived for a while here in Spargus, but he never fully recovered…" Damas bowed his head respectfully and said nothing more.

Luz nodded yet again without emotion, though her eyes grew perhaps a bit colder. She stepped away from the main throne area and stared into the water surrounding the area.

"Your highness?" questioned Geheim softly, "She is my choice."

Damas glanced up in surprise; Amor's child not only had been banished to the Wasteland, but also was to become the next High Priestess? Well, the child did seem to be of the supernatural type. He nodded in approval and gestured for Geheim to take her leave with Amor's child.

* * *

"Welcome to your new home, Seem," commented Geheim softly. Luz surveyed the great, old structure of sandstone, her eyes taking it all in. "You will be in charge of all of this one day. I am proclaiming you as my heir. You will be the High Priestess of the Temple." 

Luz strode inside, following Geheim as the old she-elf guided her through the area. The two, after perhaps an hour or so of a tour, stopped abruptly at a great stone door, which opened when Geheim muttered a certain word in a different tongue.

"Prepare yourself, child. We enter the spiritual core of the galaxy," mumbled Geheim. Luz showed a bit of fear in the red orbs on her face, but maintained a calm demeanor as she and the High Priestess entered the Council Chamber.

It was such a dark room, with only a great skylight filtering sunlight into the room. Luz noticed the light shining down on a small raised stone with a beautiful, white, stone-covered ceramic bowl in its center.

A man appeared in the light and spoke to Geheim. "High Priestess Geheim, you return once again to us, though with a child this time. Tell us, who is this child?"

Geheim stepped into the light opposite the man with the raised stone with the ceramic bowl on it in between him and her.

"This child is to be my heir. She is the child of Love and Hope. She is called Seem."

"Child of Love and Hope, take in the Light and feel the Spirit!" said the man. Geheim shoved her forward, and the man uncovered the white bowl in front of him, handing it to Luz.

"Feel the awesome power of the Precursors! Guardian of Life, we call upon you to purify this soul!"

The man pushed Luz's head into the bowl, and she felt only a cold liquid, which felt like water to her. She could hear the man chanting in the same tongue Geheim had spoken in not so long ago; others joined in the chanting with him, and, at last, she thrust her head back up and took in a deep breath of air. Though she didn't know it, it was her first breath as the High Priestess of the Temple.

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A/N: Okay, done, hope you liked it. Please leave a review. And now you must go and read Krin's works, coz you just haven't read Jak and Daxter fanfiction until you've read hers. :) 


	2. Part Two

A/N: Thanks for reviews from Krin and Ekobean.Hopefully this chapter will clear some questions up. There's only one or two more chapters left!

Krin: I only included Spanish for Pecker's speech and also for names. I figured if the mother was called Esperanza, then why not give the rest of the family names that are Spanish words? And besides, Esperanza and Luz are real Spanish names for girls anyways. (By the way, Seem is related to Onin. She's Onin's great-granddaughter in this fic.)

Ekobean: Muchas gracias, senor. Heh heh heh... Water basins...

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Disclaimer: Don't own squat. Just read the story, and don't sue, k?

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As Luz drew in a breath, Geheim took in one of her last. The frail women fell to her knees and two monks rushed over to help her down on the ground. She shivered weakly and croaked, gasping for air. 

"Say the Blessing of the Afterlife! Quickly!" ordered the man next to Luz, who appeared to have forgotten about her at the moment?

The two monks over Geheim mumbled several words of a different language over and over, and one placed his hand on her forehead.

"Bring the Spirit to her," hissed the man. Luz felt someone shove her forward and she grasped tightly to the ceramic bowl as she knelt down next to the old High Priestess.

"Seem?" murmured the old woman.

_She must be losing her eyesight_, wondered Luz.

"It _is_ you! Seem…"

"Give her the Spirit! Give it to her!" snarled one of the monks. Luz's eyebrows rose and then something struck her- surely not- the Spirit was not – no, not possibly in the _bowl_?

Luz took a handful of the liquid from the bowl and dowsed it over Geheim's head; on impact, the she-elf seemed calmer, more tranquil.

"Seem… Promise me to free the Spirit! Promise to free the Lih…"

Luz nodded her head vigorously, and watched as Geheim left the Temple to the Afterlife.

"She is with our makers now," announced the man, or Grobein the Almighty, as Geheim had called him. Grobein knelt beside Geheim's corpse and prayed in respect to her freed soul. The man then stood up, and finally addressed the young preteen in front of him.

"Hail she who has once been, Child of Hope and Love."

Luz bowed her head quietly. "Whom do I pray to?" she questioned softly.

"The makers."

_Good makers, let her soul be free and venture the open skies for all eternity. Hail, she who has once been. Hail, Geheim._

Luz rose from beside Geheim, confused as to what to do next. Everything was much to rushed, for it was only yesterday morning that she'd been living in Haven City! Her red eyes pierced Grobein in an almost curious manner; yet at the same time, with the ferocity of a powerful female.

"Hail, she who is," Grobein said. Around him, the Council bowed to Luz, but Grobein did not.

"High Priestess Seem, you will begin learning of your role from these documents," Grobein stated, and handed her a thick book with Geheim's signature at the bottom of the cover, "and will continue on with Geheim's duties to the Temple. If you should ever need anything, just ask one of the Lower Monks, the ones around the Temple. They will aid you. You are free to go, Priestess."

She set the ceramic bowl on top of the raised stone and pulled the marble over it. The newly dubbed priestess glanced down at the lifeless soul beside her, lying on the floor.

"Go on, Priestess."

Luz nodded and left the core of the Temple to where Geheim had showed her where she would stay. When Geheim was alive still. Would she be fated also to die so suddenly as Geheim had?

* * *

"Priestess, do hold your arm still!" said Minderwe. The Albino monk glanced at the young priestess again; she was much too old to be a new priestess. And yet still too young to become Albino. But Grobein had ordered Minderwe to make her one, though she was ignorant of most things that made up the Precursor religion. But she was coming along fast. He couldn't understand a woman possibly educating herself off of a few writings, but then, that was Seem's business, not his. 

"Minderwe? Are you going to do it or not?" Luz hissed. The Lower Monk was still holding her arm, the needle with the strange white pigment inside it ready to be jabbed in her arm.

"Well, Priestess, it's just that… You are so young to receive the sacred Albino Pigment that is such a well-guarded secret by we Lower Monks. Most don't receive it until he or she is seventeen, Priestess," the monk explained. He cowered when her vicious red eyes leered at him. _Do it_, they said, _or the Makers will not be happy_.

Minderwe pushed the needle into the Priestess's skin. She didn't twitch or wince at all, and she was emotionless, almost. A young woman lacking of emotion, possessing of no childish qualities, an intelligence of a twenty-year-old, and red eyes…

_Surely she is not an elf_, mused Minderwe, _She is a Demon-child!_

Minderwe shivered away from Luz. This time-honored, sacred secret of the Albino Pigment was being exposed to a Demon-child. How could the Council not see who this child was?

"I am leaving now, Minderwe," announced Luz. Her red eyes flickered one last time, and then she left the room.

Wait until the other monks found out! Minderwe could picture telling them the story, their eyes widening in fear.

_High intelligence! Without emotion! Red eyes! A Demon-child is in the halls of our great Temple!_

* * *

Seem flipped through Geheim's book, reading, taking notes, and learning. She flipped the page to find… the back cover of the book. She was done. Done training. She was a real priestess now. 

Not that it mattered. Even though she was now an Albino, the Lower Monks treated her as if she were an evil spirit within the Temple. She never spoke with the Council or even came near any of the High Monks; she had no one. Not even the priests, the ones who owed true allegiance to her. She had no one her age; she had no one.

When was the last time she'd seen the Council? When she'd been made High Priestess, over three years ago. And now she was fifteen, and her training was done. What did she do after she finished training?

_"Luz, don't leave me…"_

Seem nearly jumped. It was only a memory. A memory of- her mother? What had her name been? Hope? Yes, that was it; her mother's name was Hope.

Well, it had been Hope. But it was a different language… The language that the odd Monkaw spoke… Hope translated to that language was… Hoffnu? No, that was Precursoran… Hope translated to her mother's language was Esperanza.

_Oh Makers!_ thought Seem. _Luz? Surely not… Light, in the language of my mother. My name was Light. Lih, in Precursoran. But had not Geheim said, "Promise me you'll free the Spirit! Promise me you'll free the Lih!"_

Free her? It didn't make any sense. But free the Spirit… The Spirit, what exactly _was_ the Spirit?

* * *

Seem tramped down to the Grand Library. Books lined the shelves, and shelves lined the walls. There were so many literary scrolls and books here! But the Spirit… That would be in a special section that only members of the High rank were allowed in. 

_Ha, I am the High Priestess, am I not?_

She walked through a door past an All-Seeing Eye, which allowed her to pass. She skimmed through the books and scrolls here. There were very few; she found the scroll she wanted incredibly fast.

Slowly unfurling the crinkled, worn paper, Seem read the old Precursoran writing.

_The Spirit is a mystic force that is believed to be masculine. It guides the Precursor Council, who is the only ones worthy enough to be in its presence, besides the High Priestess, whom it determines as the correct successor or not of the previous Priestess._

_The Holy Ancient Precursors created the Spirit to watch over their home galaxy while they were away creating and maintaining other galaxies far from their home one. The Spirit resides in a small, marble-covered ceremonial marble bowl in the holiest place on the Planet, the Council Chamber of the Wasteland Temple, in the exact center of the place. The Council watches over it at all times, for it can not be released unless it is an absolute time of danger in the galaxy, and it is the Precursor Council's duty to release the Spirit when such times abound. The Precursor Council was made to protect the Spirit._

_Old housewives' tales of Spargus say that the Spirit is the Guardian of Life. Mothers worship this mysterious Guardian of Life, for they are the respected Bringers of Life, and it is such tradition that a safe, successful birth is the doing of the Guardian of Life, the Spirit. One tale claims that the Spirit is not masculine, but has been disproved by the most scholarly elves in the Galaxy, the Precursor Council. But one of the most disturbing of these stories was a prophecy of a highly respected witch-medium of Spargus:_

_For so long,  
__The Council will be made of Good men,  
__Who set free the Spirit when she need be,  
__But a time will come,  
__A time of great trouble,  
__And the Council, so corrupt, won't._

_One man will set free the Spirit,  
__Three years after the rise of Prahse,  
__For he will see the corruptness of the Council._

_The Spirit will be reflected in his kin,  
__And his kinsman will come to avenge his death.  
__For the Council killed the man,  
__But he died for Life,  
__And Life he shall have in After times._

_His kinsman will come to the Holy Place  
__The same as he;  
__His kinsman will discover his past,  
__And the kinsman's soul will glow  
__In a red fury  
__All the kinsman's life._

_The kinsman,  
__Having promised the High One,  
__Will set free the Spirit,  
__And the reign of the Council will end._

_(Ancient Scroll 238-6A: Prophecy of He'eka'al the Witch-Medium)_

_In a later prophecy of another witch-medium, He'eka'al's daughter, in fact, foresaw the following:_

_If the eyes are the windows to the soul,  
__As a wise man once said,  
__Then the Spirit will have red eyes,  
__For she will be angered  
__At the treatment of her loyal follower,  
__The man who set her free._

_(Ancient Scroll 238-6B: Prophecy of Geisee, Daughter of He'eka'al)_

_The Spirit is still an enigma to the Precursor Council, and will remain so throughout the ages._

How odd, the kinsman of a man who set free the Spirit three years after the rise of Prahse… Prahse was Precursoran for something… A name. Praxis, it was. Prahse meant Praxis. Three years after the rise of Praxis?

Oh, Baron Praxis of Haven City. That was… fifteen years ago? Wasn't this prophecy a little out of date?

Hmm, the kinsman will discover the man's fate, and the kinsman will be very angry… So angry, in fact, that his soul would glow in a red fury for all of his life? How awfully angry and demonic that kinsman must be.

Red eyes… The Spirit would have red eyes because her soul was angry? How confusing this all was!

* * *

_The man pushed Luz's head into the bowl, and she felt only a cold liquid, which felt like water to her. She could hear the man chanting in the same tongue Geheim had spoken in not so long ago; others joined in the chanting with him, and, at last, she thrust her head back up and took in a deep breath of air.

* * *

_

The stuff in the bowl only felt like water… Yet the Spirit was surely supposed to be more than water: that much Seem knew. What if the Spirit had been gone for fifteen years? What if had been absent from the Temple, and was living in the kinsman of the Spirit's follower? The demonic kinsman with red eyes who would come to the Temple the same way as the man… What if it was possible? What if it was happening?

Seem knew one thing: she needed to speak to Grobein and the Council. This was something she couldn't sort out on her own.

* * *

A/N: Figured it out yet? Well, don't spoil it for the other readers. All will be revealed in the final one or two chapters! Please review, it is very much appreciated. 


	3. Part Three

A/N: Thanks to horaquanhybrid for a review! Now, on with the story.

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Disclaimer: I've said it, I'll say it again: I OWN NOTHING.

* * *

Seem approached the grand stone door that led into the Council Chamber. What was the word she had to say to be granted access? Oh, _Varloufe_. Precursoran for "Precursor". 

"_Varloufe_," Seem said, and the great door opened. She hurried into the Council Chamber, mumbling apologies for her abrupt disruption.

"Grobein! There was! There is! The Spirit! And the Guardian of Life! And-"

"High Priestess Seem! Calm yourself! What is so urgent that you must interrupt the studies of the Council?" Grobein nearly bellowed.

"The Spirit isn't here!" spat Seem. All noise seemed to stop in the room; thirty-six pairs of eyes pierced the teen in curiosity or exasperation. Grobein's hard gray eyes stared into Seem's own red ones, and he knew she wasn't being dishonest.

"What do you mean, the Spirit is not present! Of course it is! It is in this very room; I can sense it. Believe me, Priestess, I of all elves would know where the Spirit is." Grobein stood and approached the raised stone with the bowl on it; his body appeared in the light quite suddenly and he squinted as though he hadn't seen sunlight in years.

Seem stood her ground; she pulled out the wrinkled scroll from the library she'd read.

"It is entirely possible, Almighty One. I have proof on this scroll that my theory is entirely plausible. Read it."

Grobein eyed the scroll nastily. He frowned and his face depicted his anger at the insolent female before him.

"Read it," hissed Seem once again. Her eyes, so contrasted to her Albino skin, narrowed in a menacing way.

"I do not have time for foolish fantasies and childish games, Priestess. Kindly leave the Council to peace."

Seem drew closer to Grobein. She sensed something was afoot that should not be. Once again, she ordered him to read it.

"Read it!"

"Leave, _Seem_."

The sheer will and determination of the two surged through the air like a powerful tsunami. Seem would not back down, and neither would Grobein, leader of the most powerful council on the planet.

"It's High Priestess Seem, _Grobein_," she growled. It was starting to dawn on her what exactly the Council was; what it had done.

"There was a man here who opened the Spirit's prison fifteen years ago. He was here! The Spirit is not here; she is living in a child directly related to the man. This I believe. This I know. But what ever happened to the man? What did you do to him?"

"Leave. _Now_."

"No. Tell me what you did to the man!"

"Seem…" murmured Grobein. He was slowly walking towards her, preparing to force her out of the room.

"You _killed_ him, only because he did something right! You are all corrupted!" Seem accused. She yelled in fright as Grobein closed his eyes and chanted a spell; on impact, she felt constrained, her muscles tense.

"He entered the Temple without permission, and he unleashed the Spirit when there was peace! It is his fault that there is so much war, and it is his fault that more warfare is coming even now from space! It is not long now before this world faces its end! And it is his fault. He may have aided Damas in the completion and unification of Spargus; he may have seen trouble and wanted it to stop; but he is the cause of this planet's downfall. He released the Spirit and in turn, we killed him. Keep the peace, if you will. At that point in time women had no rights and were viciously beaten, but the Council knew it was better that way than to release the Apocalypse on the planet. It is Amor's fault alone, and no one else's."

Amor? Her _father_? It wasn't possible! Or was it? Seem struggled; she couldn't speak: her body was not hers. She had no control over her body. She tried to scream as Grobein drew close enough to touch her, but she couldn't.

With the force of fifty witch-mediums, Grobein unleashed a powerful blast that knocked Seem out cold. The teen crumpled to the floor.

"Bring her to her quarters and lock her there," instructed Grobein. Seem had gained too much knowledge, and knowledge is power, as a wise man once said.

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Seem dug the spoon into the wooden wall to make another mark as sunlight from the brisk dawn grazed across the chamber's floor and walls. There were one hundred nine marks in all; one for each day she'd been imprisoned in her own quarters. How ironic it all was. 

She knew she'd entered her sixteenth year sometime around the eighty-fifth day; she could barely keep track of time. Every night, the encounter in the Council Chamber haunted her dreams. And she didn't understand any of it; she could not remember anything besides the encounter with the Council and then, this: imprisonment.

Restless, Seem shuffled through a few books lying around on her small desk that she'd read over three times each. She hoped for a sign, for something new, but there was nothing, as always. Wait! What was that, the one that was leather-bound with yakow hide? Was this a new book or sign?

She brushed off the dust on the cover. The book's cover was brown and worn, and held together by tough strands of leather. She flipped it over to the front cover and read one word: "Geheim".

Geheim… What did it mean? She remember the languages: Precursoran and Precursorian, the Outsiders' language, and the other language… One that a bird spoke… She didn't know what it was called, but she knew how to speak it.

Geheim, however, was a Precursoran word. Translated to Precursorian, it meant "secret". Hmm… What secret could be hidden in such a common-looking book?

She opened up the book to a random page and read a passage.

_As a High Priestess, one is always expected to understand and protect the secrets of the Makers at all times. One shall oversee all Lower and High Monk investigations of ruins and such that might deal with new Precursor secrets. Thus, the High Priestess's main purpose is to be a living vessel of all Precursor secrets know to elfkind. The High Priestess should know things that even the Precursor Council knows not; she is the one to balance out all the Council members so that they do not gain too much power or knowledge._

_One must know that knowledge is power. If the High Priestess knows things that even the Council does not, she has much power, though she is often unrecognized of owning that power. The High Priestess is stealthy and secretive in all her actions: she is the only one that may ever speak to the Makers, though the Council does not know this._

_My dear readers, whomever you may be, know this: the Council is corrupt; witch-mediums of the ancient Spargus Village that existed before the city did knew this. They are greedy men who only crave power and could care less about the welfare of the galaxy. Women have always been less corruptible than men simply because so few were exposed to vast amounts of knowledge and power. The Bringers of Life are the greatest of all beings and are the ones who should be worshipped: for it is they who have the power of creation like the Makers themselves._

Seem gasped; it was all coming back: Haven City, Esperanza, Onin and Pecker, leaving to the Mountain Temple, capture and banishment, Geheim, the Temple, her first encounter with the Council, learning to be a High Priestess through the documents written by Geheim. It was her past; she was Luz, she was Light: she was the Lih. And she had promised Geheim she would set Lih, herself, free.

_I would want to free myself of this fate anyways_, thought Seem. She approached the door that had sealed her in from the outside world for nearly a third of a year.

"I am the Lih, Master of this Temple, and you shall open for me," Seem stated in Precursoran. The stone block rose and a narrow passage appeared. She snaked through it, Geheim's book still in her hand, and started chanting a powerful spell that would forever undo what the Council had done since the beginning of the Temple. A spell that would avenge her father's death forever.

"_Ic bine dasa Lih, wirid Mestire vo Tampella, undas Ihnenhes, meineneha Steinejhe vo Tampella, amird jihorzin:_

_Steihen vo sanna undas kalik, _

_Vo rotte undas gelbereh undas scheywharz: _

_Hföreen hsieh zuana. _

_Hföreen hsieh zmeinehs wirehtar: _

_Faylleen hsieh müshsenne, _

_Faylleen hsieh solylun. _

_Zersahturean hsieh lebenini, _

_Dieh hsieh werehdene. _

_Zerehstor hsieh alyehs, _

_Jedehr:_

_Zerehstor hsieh alyeh!_"

She yelled it out loud once again, this time in Precursorian:

"_I am the Lih, the Master of the Temple, and of you, my stones of the Temple, you will obey me:_

_Stones of sand and lime, _

_Of red and yellow and black: _

_Listen. _

_Hear my words: _

_Fall you will, _

_Fall you shall._

_Destroy lives you shall._

_Destroy everything, _

_Everyone: _

_Destroy all!_"

The walls of the Temple started to rumble, and again Seem began her chanting, but this time in her mother's language. With such force, her words in her mother's language brought down the stones that had stayed in the core for so long. She heard yells and shouts from the Council Chamber, and she chanted faster, all in her mother's language. Her power was greater than that of even Grobein's in her chanting; so fast she chanted, such knowledge and sheer power she had at the moment.

The earth rumbled and she encouraged the quake on with her chanted words: over and over, ordering the stones to fall and destroy!

She began talking slower; the avalanche of fallen rock slowed as well. But as the avalanche dwindled down, so did the lives of thirty-six greedy men that had underestimated the unrecognized power of the High Priestess.

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A/N: Odd, I know, but I kinda liked it. There should be only one more chapter after this one! Please tell me what you think of this. 


	4. Part Four

A/N: YAY! Last chappie up! Just want to thank everyone who reviewed (Ekobean, Krin and horaquanhybrid) and especially to Krin, coz she's been so nice. With out further ado, I present to you: Part Four of Balancing the Spirit.

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Disclaimer: Don't own nothin'. (Yeah, I KNOW it's a double negative, you don't have to point that out!)

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The tormented murderer bowed her head. Spirits and demons traveled freely in the chilled air. There had been such a loss, yet for such a reason. Running a white hand along her face, she brought it down to her other palm, clasping her digits together with surprising strength. Slowly, she mouthed a few words of remorseful prayer, hoping with all her heart that the Makers would forgive her actions. 

The murderer rose to her small erect position, surveying the damage. Limestone and sandstone lay in heaps; a few in a semi-circle were stained with blood. _The Council's blood_, the murderer's conscience spat.

She shivered in fear and wiped off the perspiration that had accumulated on her Albino cheeks and forehead. The murderer strode forward into the rubble. This was her doing. She was the one to be blamed. Why had she done it?

_To avenge Amor's death_, a strong-willed voice inside of her reminded her. She shook her head; it was so much to take in. When she was chanting, she couldn't control herself, but now, now that the spell was complete- she was left with the guilt.

The murderer continued forward to a rather large, raised stone in the exact shape of a cube. A circle of great, fallen boulders surrounded it, and it appeared as though there'd been some kind of force field defending this one stone from the avalanche.

As she spotted what lay on the stone, the murderer knew why it was like that. _Divine intervention_, commented the still-holy part of herself.

On the raised stone was the ceremonial bowl of liquid- plain _water_. The water was nothing special, and yet a slab of marble blocked it off as if it were a monstrosity that should be kept in captivity. But all the same, the murderer removed the slab.

A sacred force pushed the murderer back and she lost her breath as she slammed against one of the surrounding boulders. A female, elfin figure in a flowing white gown floated in the air above the stone. The murderer shielded her eyes from the light, for it was too much for her to bear.

"Lih," whispered the hovering being, as though calling to the murderer. The murderer would not look at the pure being, for the entity was glowing to brightly, her skin too fair, her eyes too light.

"Lih," called the entity again; this time, the murderer lowered her shielding hand and stared in the direction of the being.

"Lih, my daughter, come," whispered the angelic being. The murderer, as if in a trance, approached the angel cautiously.

The angel stopped hovering in the air. Her feet touched the chilled, raised stone, and her eyes of pure light glowed softly as she caressed the teen that approached her.

The murderer closed her eyes as the angel embraced her. It was too much; it was all too much!

"Lih, be calm," murmured the angel. The murderer again averted the entity's gaze: this was too much!

"Lih, you feel it is too much, but only because a part of you has left you: I have left your embodiment to take my own," explained the woman.

The murderer's eyes glowed in sudden understanding.

_She is the Spirit!_

"Relax, Lih. This," the Spirit hissed, gesturing to the surrounding rubble, "is my doing, not that of yours. My will and my spell. The guilt belongs to me."

_Your will and your spell, but my power_, thought the murderer in awe of herself.

"Amor has been blessed with a daughter of such will to match even that of mine! To think, I was a part of you since you were born… Lih, you will not understand this, but I am no longer a part of you. Now you are yourself, no more, no less.

"I was with you in your birth; it is because your father released me that you were born. You were fated to be a stillborn, but I gave you Life. Now, it is your turn, Lih. It is your duty to give Life to those who do not have it."

_How?_

"By doing so as you would: by assuming your role as the High One, the Master of this Temple. Be warned: times of war are coming, and it is your duty to protect the secrets that have been made known unto you. You must survive through the times; terrible times are coming, and even I cannot stop them.

"One will come, one by the name of Mar, who shall save you all. Do everything you can to help this one. Recognize who he is when you see him!"

In a blinding white light, the Spirit vanished. The murderer bowed her head, and mused all that she was: Luz, Esperanza's daughter; Lih, the Light; the Child of Love and Hope; A murderer; Geheim's heir; the High Priestess; the Master of the Temple; Seem.

Seem liked the last one. Seem, Geheim's heir. Seem, the Master who would guide the Temple through times of war and peace alike. High Priestess Seem. Seem, the one who would someday see the face of her Makers.

-Fin-

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A/N: This is SUCH a weird feeling because I have NEVER completed a multi-chaptered fic in my entire fanfiction career. I hope I ended it well. Just to point out, this takes place three years before Seem meets Jak, so you pretty much know the rest of the story if you've played and beaten Jak 3. 

Thankies to everyone who reviewed, and especially to Krin. After reviewing this chappie, be sure to check out her story _Baroosh Baroosh_ for an alternate version of Seem's past.

Please, do review.

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THE END 


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